You are here: Home > Our Work > Global Standards of Care > Standard Equipment & Training

Standard Equipment & Training

With more than 25 years of experience in repairing cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities, we’ve standardised our practices, equipment and anaesthesia, especially as they relate to the special needs of children, to ensure the safest surgical environment possible.

State-of-the-art equipment and biomed training is provided to our partner countries to ensure that all children treated will benefit from the same quality of technology, regardless of where they receive care. When not available in a partner country, our mission teams bring standardised, high-quality equipment with them to the mission site.

Other standard practices that distinguish an Operation Smile mission include

• Providing emergency supplies in accordance with American Heart Association guidelines for paediatric and advanced cardiac life support.

• Biomedical technicians to ensure that medical equipment on each mission meets Operation Smile’s Global Standard of Care.

• Delivering training during its international medical missions, ranging from a workshop on a specific skill or technique to certification in life support for thousands of in-country volunteers.

• Certifying thousands of in-country volunteers in Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) — as an International Training Organisation of the American Health Association.

All Operation Smile operating rooms are equipped with the most up-to-date medical and emergency supplies, comparable to the best hospitals in the world and certified by the American Heart Association. Our programmes and missions are designed to meet the needs of the facilities and health care providers at the time of our missions — to ensure more children are safely healed after we leave.

Learn more about our medical volunteer opportunities and apply to volunteer on a mission.